Now that I have some icecream in my stomach I think that I have the patience to reattempt, so enjoy! :-)

Here is me in D.C. ... only moments away from the Rock the Mall event!

Yesterday was a long day needless to say. I think I walked about ten miles yesterday, now my knees are swollen and my feet, oh and my back is not feeling to hot either, but enough complaining! Let me tell you about some of the cool things we did.

During the event the girls favorite part was the SWAPS. SWAPS are Special Whatchamicallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere, there was tons of cute things. A lot of them were made about the area they are from, some birthday oriented, some just cool things. I made pink glittery stars that say "Girl Scouts Makes Stars" (cause we do! I'm a living example :-D) After you have made a whole bunch you take them and trade them with people. Some of the adults also participated in a Quilt Swap, we spent a lot of time making sqaures that all looked the same that we could "swap" with others.

After all that it was pretty hot for the girls, we are from Northern NY! I am pretty sure I am the only one who enjoyed the heat. I never realized that I missed it after moving back to NY a year ago. Kind of makes me wonder about my grad school goals... In Alaska!

We also went to a couple of the museums. The girls favorite was the Museum of Natural History where we were able to go into a butterfly atrium.

There were so many butterflies that were so amazing. They were so colorful I wish I could post all the pictures that I have but there is just so many! All the girls were amazed that they were so close to the butterflies. Some were even landing on us! My mother absolutely loves butterflies and she had two of them on her hat at one point... Here's a pic of me with one on my shirt! SO COOL!

The little bugger didn't want to leave me! But, he had to, we needed to get the girls to a nice shady location so my mother and I could do some more walking to Hard Rock Cafe to get everyone's dinners. At first I was a little bummed, my feet didn't want to be in my shoes anymore but, once I got there it was SO worth it because...

SEE THAT?! A SIGNED PRINCE GUITAR!

I almost died of a mild heart attack, my heart palpitated quite a bit, woooo, I <3 Prince so much.

I will definitely get into more music in later blogs... I know you have some really good concert stories!

If you were in D.C. yesterday you definitely saw a lot of Girl Scouts of all ages, young and old.

When I took this I was standing near the Washington Monument, there was this amount of people from every direction. It was breathtaking how many people there was! Right after I took this I then laid down to take one of my favorite photographs I took!

I hope that everyone had a great weekend like all these girls did!

And don't forget the Challenge, email me all of your Girl Scout stories ([email protected]) I want to hear all the good and the bad ones, gritty, or not! Send them my way!

As John has introduced me as enthusiastic, and a hater of cabbage... that hate is more like a passion of despise. I seriously HATE cabbage. But anyways, he also did state that I get around. As we speak I am sitting in the car at a Girl Scout camp somewhere in Maryland. I have my IPOD cranked, a converter with my laptop plugged in as well as a wireless box. I guess you can't really call that camping but about 15 yards away are 29 other Girl Scouts sleeping on the wooden floors of old cabins with their sleeping bags and flash lights after a long but exciting day. A really LONG day.

We left Northern NY today around 6am with quite a few stops for my likings but what do you expect when 22 of those girls are from Kindergarten to Senior in highschool? One of the girls in the vehicle that I am helping drive is actually a puker as well... Not the best thing. Our first stop was at Indian Echo Caverns in Pennsylvania near Hersey Park. Although I have seen some gorgeous caverns and in my opinion these were not the best but we did hear some interesting stories. Whose heard of the "Pennsylvania Hermit" before? I can say I am extremely interested in reading up about this man who actually made the caverns his home!

This is one of the photos from the caverns, this is one of the lakes within the cavern. The water was SO clear, nondrinkable but absolutely gorgeous.

This picture is of starting from the left... My beautiful neice, she is on her first year of Daisies, then me, I am a Daisy Leader at the moment but on my eigtheenth year of scouting, and last my amazing mother who made this possible. Including her years as a Guide in Canada and a Junior Leader in the States she has twenty-five years of scouting this year! We are part of the now NYPENN Pathways Council, formerly part of the Thousand Islands Council.

I should probably tell you about why we have embarked on this three day journey shouldn't I? Do we have any fellow or former Girl Scouts out there? 2012 is the 100th Birthday of Girl Scouting, so my mother planned a trip to Washington D.C. to attend the Rock the Mall Sing-A-Long Event. All over Washington will be tons of different things tomorrow so if you are in the area check it out. I am one of the few whose been to this area so I am extremely excited to show these girls of all ages all the sites of our capital and hopefully some museums as well as the singing events.

So can I give you all a challenge? I want to hear some Girl Scout Stories... what is your favorite Girl Scout memory, or maybe the worst? Tell me some stories (email to: [email protected]) Make sure you include what council you were/are apart of and how many years of scouting you have done. I want to make a blog of my favorite three stories!

Have a great weekend! I am sure I will have more to share tomorrow after spending the day in D.C.!

Hey friends & BoneWorlders! Summer's going along smoothly, although we've had to crank up the woodstove the last few days. Our summer intern, Erica Kelso, has been working w/ us for the past two weeks, & I'm pleased to say that she brings enthusiasm & good literary sense to our meetings. Plus she hates cabbage. Although I like cabbage I don't hold this against her.

For the remainder of the summer, it appears that Erica will handle the blogging aspects of BoneWorld communication. And she gets around, so expect the unexpected. All kidding aside, I expect this added boost to our editorial staff will help us to catch up on some dreadfully lingering projects.

Well, it's good to be back on the web. I'm listening to old Who right now, so the world is lively & full of mischief. No, not the doctor w/ the Tardis & all those scarves; I mean the one w/ the big nose who plays his guitar w/ a windmill roundhouse flail. Yeah, that guy. Anyway....

Thaddeus Rutkowski, one of our MuscleHead chapbook ( White and Wong, 2007) authors, had a story published in The New York Times. "Mountain Man" appeared in that publication's austere & august pages on March 11th, 2012. Congratulations Thaddeus!

To everyone waiting for chapbooks, April is a tough month, being National Poetry Month. Looks like we might have a college intern working w/ us this summer, so we should be able to catch up on all our responsibilities. Thanks for all your patience.

I see John hasn't been here in awhile, so I guess I'll drop a word or two. It's been busy around here, but I just uploaded our newest offerings from MuscleHead, Earth Bound by Gregory Liffick and the latest tomB Baby (with Hot Robert Toddy) by CEE. Both are really cool and worth checking out. John's favorite subject the last couple of posts has been the radio show. We did one yesterday and had a blast! Valentines Day and Cheesemonkeys...don't ask...We've got lots of things coming up in BoneWorld. If John doesn't keep you posted, I'll be back...

Okay, it looks as though the studio is back in order, which means that tomorrow we return to live radio. Listen to the Howie & the Wolfman Show--w/ Spice!--tomorrow, June 25th, 2011, @ 11:00 a.m. Listen at 91.1 FM if you're in the Potsdam, New York area. Otherwise you can check us out online at radio.clarkson.edu. We play requests. Obviously, I am th Wolfman & Nancy is Spice! Howie? Well that's a whole nuther story.

Just a note. In the February issue of Barbaric Yawp, only recently mailed out to all contributors & subscribers, I included at the end of my introduction information regarding a radio show Nancy & I have the privilege of conducting on Saturday mornings, the Howie & the Wolfman Show. Well, at present the building in which the studio is housed is undergoing some major renovations, & it looks as though we won't be back spinning discs until early July. So if you've checked online for our dazzling barrage of sonic grooves, there's a good reason why you didn't find them. More on this as I find out more about our next potential broadcast date.

Also, it appears we've survived May 21st, the Rapture or whatever it was. I can't tell if we've been taken or not. Everything seems pretty much the same, except the weather is a little drier. And they let us bring our dogs, which I thought was nice.

Also also: to anyone commenting on these BoneBlogs--for some reason I am unable to open the "comments," although it seems that comments have indeed been left. So please direct comments, queries, observations directly to me at my e-mail address: [email protected]

To all of our faithful readers who have been waiting breathlessly for the January issue of Barbaric Yawp--Hark! We've transformed the issue to February, we printed copies this weekend & will mail them out SOON. Sorry to everyone who's waited; I thank you for your patience. It's a good issue, certainly worth waiting for. To everyone who's submitted chapbooks & other sundry items for future consideration, please wait until the semester's over for any intelligent response. Steve Vai is hammering away at his guitar downstairs, so I'm doing the best I can. Hope to catch up soon. Thanks.

I was good in 2010. As proof I offer the fact that Santa delivered to me, quite as a surprise, a set of acrylic paints, a sketchbook, like two dozen brushes, & six small canvases. My first creation was painted on Christmas Day. I call it "Future," & it's rather bleak.

Not much to say. Holidays are a nasty, brutish time. I'm paraphrasing Thomas Hobbes here, & he was talking about something else. I rather like the holidays, if they are kept in their proper place.

Right now I'm working on my Resolutions for 2011. This is an annual challenge for me. It's an attempt to balance my life into a highwire of scheduled events w/ plenty of wiggle-room for spontaneous fun & inspiration. Too much schedule, we become automatons. Too much spontaneity, nothing gets done. At least w/ myself. Hence the Resolutions.

So anyway--have a Happy New Year! And be good. You too may earn acrylics next year!

Okay, here is the official tally on our nominations for the next Pushcart Prize, chosen by the good Pushcart people in April of next year. If we don't hear by May, then it looks like we've lost...again....

Anyway, the nominees are: Julie Ann August for her marvelous story "The Cultivator" in the January 2010 issue of Barbaric Yawp.

Pamela Klein for her heavy poem "Testing Gravity," in the April Yawp.

John Grey for his light-fingered poem "Shoplifter in the Police Station" in the July issue.

And three pieces from the October Yawp: Jeff Grimshaw for his humorous/surreal story "Vinnie's New Job," Jackie Bartley for her poem "Lot's Wife Reckons Time," & Scott Blackwell for his poem "My Space."

Good luck to one & all. If I hear anything more, I'll update in a future blog.

That's the big news. We've also made some decisions on the chapbooks for 2011, & those authors will be notified individually. Thanks to all for supporting the small press.